By Paul Engel
As we celebrate the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, I think it’s important that we take some time and perform a self-examination of the independence to which those men pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. If we compare the federal government today to the king we declared independence from then, I think we’ll find them much more alike than we would find comfortable. So today, let us redeclare our independence, not from the government in Washington, D.C., but from the men and women who have corrupted the legacy we celebrate today, from the unjust powers they are exercising, and the tyranny they are attempting to impose on the American people.
As I studied the Declaration of Independence anew, I was hit by the realization of how many of the grievances that the colonist had with King George could just as easily be made by the citizens of the United States against their governments, both state and federal. While writing and teaching on the subject, I was again and again brought to the understanding that the situation of the states today bears a striking resemblance to that of the colonies in 1776. In many ways, I believe the tyranny lorded over the states is worse than what drove our Founding Fathers to declare themselves independent. So I decided to go through the Declaration one more time, updating it with the abuses and usurpations currently being exercised by the government of the United States. I call this document, The Re-Declaration of Independence. To help you, I’ve highlighted the language that I have changed.
Re-Declaration
The Declaration of the citizens of the fifty united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to regain control of their government, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to this action.
The Re-Declaration of Independence
No significant change to the abuses of rights and liberty will come from politicians. They have no real incentive to fix what can be used so greatly to their own benefit. No, if change is to come, it will not come from Washington, D.C., neither is it likely to originate from our state capitals. If a restoration of independence and liberty are to come to America, it will come from the American people.
And no, “united States” is not a typo. This document is not the viewpoint of the union called the United States of America. Rather, it is coming from the citizens of the several states who have voluntarily united into a compact between the states. While the distinction between the union called the United States and the states that have united together is often lost in today’s discourse, the freedom and independence of these states are just as vital to our liberty today as it was in 1776.
The purpose of this document is not to overthrow the government of the United States, but to return it to its proper place, exercising the limited powers delegated to it by the Constitution that created it.
Justification
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to regain control of the Systems of Government. The history of the present government in Washington, D.C. is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
The Re-Declaration of Independence
There is little to change here. We should recognize that the government in Washington, D.C., has taken the place of King George when it comes to the abuse of power. Also of great importance is the call to regain control of that government rather than replace it. This is not a call for insurrection, but for a restoration to the proper role of government in a free republic.
Since no call of this magnitude should be made on a whim, it is important that We the People give facts to show the rightness of what we are calling for.
Grievances
The Federal Courts have refused their Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
The federal government has forbidden the States to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till their Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, they have utterly neglected to attend to them.
The federal government has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large territories held in trust for the people, requiring the people of new states relinquish the right of control of public territories as a condition of admission to the union, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
The labyrinth of bureaucratic departments and agencies have created confusing, contradictory, and ruinous regulations for the sole purpose of fatiguing the American people into compliance with their measures.
Federal courts have dissolved state legislative acts repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness the federal government’s invasions on the rights of the people.
The President has refused to enforce laws protecting the borders of this nation, the States remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
Congress has refused to adopt immigration laws necessary and sufficient for the needs of the people, leaving in place outdated laws that inhibit the economy and promoting illegal immigration.
The President has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by politicizing the appointment of judges, requiring their fidelity to certain opinions rather than the supreme law of the land.
The Senate has made Judges dependent on their Will alone, for appointment to their offices, and threaten them with impeachment for political reasons.
Congress has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
The President has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies by militarizing our police forces.
The President has affected to render the Military and police independent of their oath to the supreme law of the land.
The President has combined with the Senate to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their Assent to the Acts of pretended Legislation from the United Nations and entering into international agreements without the advice and consent of the Senate:
For Quartering large bodies of armed law enforcement among us, including arming non-law enforcement departments and agencies:
For protecting law enforcement and government officials, by a mock Trial and qualified immunity, from punishment for crimes which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade within a state:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent and in violation of the Constitution:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses
For abolishing the free System of United States Laws, establishing therein arbitrary government agencies, and enlarging the Boundaries of their power so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the absolute rule into these States:
For effectively taking away our State Constitutions, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending the actions of our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
The federal government has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of its Protection and by failing to enforce immigration, naturalization, and Constitutional laws.
The federal government has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people through regulation of domestic policy not delegated to the United States by the Constitution.
The Congress is at this time transporting large armies to act as mercenaries to complete the works of death, already begun by previous executive administrations, in an effort to impose their political will, and the will of our allies, on those we disagree with.
The federal government has constrained our fellow Citizens to bear Arms against their fellow citizens, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
The federal government has excited domestic insurrections amongst us by allowing it to go unopposed in cities across the land, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our borders, the merciless criminal cartels, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
The Re-Declaration of Independence
What Can We The People Do?
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury by legislative, executive, and judicial actors alike. A government whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
The Re-Declaration of Independence
From time to time, states have pushed back against federal overreach. More often than not, it has been through the federal judiciary. However, that branch of government has shown itself to be just as susceptible to overreach as the rest of the federal government. Human nature being what it is, we should not be surprised that those who seek power in government work to maintain and expand it.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our brethren who work for the government in Washington, D.C. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our settlement here, and the conditions by which we entered the union. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which declares our sovereignty, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
The Re-Declaration of Independence
Few Americans seem to realize that the states created the federal government, not the other way around. Furthermore, as the parties to the Constitution that created the federal government, the states establish the limits on its power. Even the governments of the several states do not realize that legally, they are masters of the federal government, not its servants.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these States, solemnly publish and declare, That these united States are, and of Right ought to be Free, Independent and Sovereign States; that they are the creator of the United States and its government; and that as parties to the compact of the Constitution of the United States, they have full Power to oversee their creation, establish the boundaries of its power by the consent of their citizens, and enact all of the powers of a state not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by the Constitution to the states. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The Re-Declaration of Independence
As the parties to the Constitution, the states are not only free, but sovereign. The states have the full and legitimate power to oversee the government of the United States. Furthermore, they have the responsibility to do so. It is just as much the responsibility of the states to protect the rights of their citizens as that of the federal government.
Conclusion
Our Founding Fathers had to fight a war and overturn their government to regain their rights. Thankfully, we do not need to take such drastic actions. However, if we do not regain control of our governments, at all levels, while we still can, we will doom our children either to servitude or to war. On this Independence Day, will you choose to re-declare that our states are free and sovereign, or will you leave your children to fight for the rights you were unwilling to fight for?
© 2021 Paul Engel – All Rights Reserved
E-Mail Paul Engel: paul@constitutionstudy.com
[BIO: Paul Engel founded The Constitution Study in 2014 to help everyday Americans read and study the Constitution. Author and speaker, Paul has spent more than 20 years studying and teaching about both the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. Freely admitting that he “learned more about our Constitution from School House Rock than in 12 years of public school” he proves that anyone can be a constitutional scholar. You can find his books on Amazon and Apple Books. You can also find his books, classes and other products at the Constitution Study website (https://constitutionstudy.com). You can reach him at paul@constitutionstudy.com]
